Afsharid Iran

Guarded Domains of Iran^[1]^[2]
ممالک محروسه ایران
*Mamâlek-e Mahruse-ye Irân*
Guarded Domains of Iran ممالک محروسه ایران; Mamâlek-e Mahruse-ye Irân
1736–1796
	Flag Emblem
	The Afsharid Empire at its greatest extent in 1741–1745 under Nader Shah
Status	Empire
Capital	Mashhad
Common languages	Persian (official language; court language; civil & fiscal administration);
Religion	Islam (state religion); Christianity; Zoroastrianism; Judaism;
Government	Absolute monarchy
Shahanshah
• 1736–1747	Nader Shah
• 1747–1748	Adel Shah
• 1748	Ebrahim Afshar
• 1748–1796	Shahrokh Shah
History
• Established	22 January 1736
• Disestablished	1796
Population
• Estimate	6,000,000
Currency	Toman
Preceded by	Succeeded by
	Safavid Iran
	Hotak dynasty
Zand dynasty
Qajar Iran
Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti
Durrani Empire

Afsharid Iran (Persian: ایران افشاری), also referred as the Afsharid Empire,^[7] was an Iranian^[8] empire established by the Turkoman^[9]^[10] Afshar tribe in Iran's north-eastern province of Khorasan, establishing the Afsharid dynasty that would rule over Iran during the mid-eighteenth century. The dynasty's founder, Nader Shah, was a successful military commander who deposed the last member of the Safavid dynasty in 1736, and proclaimed himself Shah.^[11]

During Nader's reign, Iran reached its greatest extent since the Sasanian Empire. At its height it controlled modern-day Iran, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Bahrain, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, and parts of Iraq, Pakistan, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Oman and the North Caucasus (Dagestan). After his death, most of his empire was divided between the Zands, Durranis, Georgians, and the Caucasian khanates, while Afsharid rule was confined to a small local state in Khorasan. Finally, the Afsharid dynasty was overthrown by Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar in 1796, who would establish a new native Iranian empire and restore Iranian suzerainty over several of the aforementioned regions.

The dynasty was named after the Turkoman Afshar tribe from Khorasan in north-east Iran, to which Nader belonged.^[12] The Afshars had originally migrated from Turkestan to Azerbaijan (Iranian Azerbaijan) in the 13th century. In the early 17th century, Abbas the Great moved many Afshars from Azerbaijan to Khorasan to defend the north-eastern borders of his state against the Uzbeks, after which the Afshars settled in those regions. Nader belonged to the Qereqlu branch of the Afshars.^[13]

^ Amanat 1997, p. 13.
^ Amanat 2017, pp. 145–156.
^ Katouzian, Homa (2003). Iranian History and Politics. Routledge. p. 128. ISBN 0-415-29754-0. Indeed, since the formation of the Ghaznavids state in the tenth century until the fall of Qajars at the beginning of the twentieth century, most parts of the Iranian cultural regions were ruled by Turkic-speaking dynasties most of the time. At the same time, the official language was Persian, the court literature was in Persian, and most of the chancellors, ministers, and mandarins were Persian speakers of the highest learning and ability.
^ "HISTORIOGRAPHY vii. AFSHARID AND ZAND PERIODS – Encyclopaedia Iranica". Archived from the original on 2018-12-25. Retrieved 2022-10-22. Afsharid and Zand court histories largely followed Safavid models in their structure and language, but departed from long-established historiographical conventions in small but meaningful ways.
^ Axworthy, Michael (2008). A History of Iran: Empire of the Mind. New York: Basic Books. pp. 160, 167. ISBN 978-0-465-00888-9. OCLC 182779666.
^ Aliasghar Shamim, Iran during the Qajar Reign, Tehran: Scientific Publications, 1992, p. 287
^ Pickett, James (2016). "Nadir Shah's Peculiar Central Asian Legacy: Empire, Conversion Narratives, and the Rise of New Scholarly Dynasties". International Journal of Middle East Studies. 48 (3): 491–510. doi:10.1017/S0020743816000453. ISSN 0020-7438. JSTOR 43998158. S2CID 159600918.
^ Tucker, Ernest (2012). "Afshārids". In Fleet, Kate; Krämer, Gudrun; Matringe, Denis; Nawas, John; Rowson, Everett (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE. Brill Online. ISSN 1873-9830. Archived from the original on 2022-08-09. Retrieved 2022-05-23. The Afshārids (r. 1149–1210/1736–96) were a Persian dynasty founded by Nādir Shāh Afshār, replacing the Ṣafavid dynasty.
^ Lockhart, L., "Nadir Shah: A Critical Study Based Mainly upon Contemporary Sources", London: Luzac & Co., 1938, 21 :"Nadir Shah was from a Turkmen tribe and probably raised as a Shiʿa, though his views on religion were complex and often pragmatic"
^ Mikaberidze, Alexander (2011). Conflict and Conquest in the Islamic World: A Historical Encyclopedia, Vol.1. ABC Clio, LLC. p. 408. ISBN 978-1-59884-336-1."This event marked the twilight of the Safavid power but also served as a launching pad for an Afshar Turkoman commander named Nadir Shah."
^ Axworthy 2006, p. back cover. "Nader Shah, ruler of Persia from 1736 to 1747, embodied ruthless ambition, energy, military brilliance, cynicism and cruelty"
^ Axworthy 2006, pp. 17–19. "His father was of lowly but respectable status, a herdsman of the Afshar tribe ... The Qereqlu Afshars to whom Nader's father belonged were a semi-nomadic Turcoman tribe settled in Khorasan] in north-eastern Iran ... The tribes of Khorasan were for the most part ethnically distinct from the Persian-speaking population, speaking Turkic or Kurdish languages. Nader's mother tongue was a dialect of the language group spoken by the Turkic tribes of Iran and Central Asia, and he would have quickly learned Persian, the language of high culture and the cities as he grew older. But the Turkic language was always his preferred everyday speech, unless he was dealing with someone who knew only Persian."
^ Cambridge History of Iran Volume 7, pp. 2–4

[FOOTNOTEAmanat199713-1] Amanat 1997, p. 13.

[FOOTNOTEAmanat2017145–156-2] Amanat 2017, pp. 145–156.

[Katouzian128-3] Katouzian, Homa (2003). Iranian History and Politics. Routledge. p. 128. ISBN 0-415-29754-0. Indeed, since the formation of the Ghaznavids state in the tenth century until the fall of Qajars at the beginning of the twentieth century, most parts of the Iranian cultural regions were ruled by Turkic-speaking dynasties most of the time. At the same time, the official language was Persian, the court literature was in Persian, and most of the chancellors, ministers, and mandarins were Persian speakers of the highest learning and ability.

[4] "HISTORIOGRAPHY vii. AFSHARID AND ZAND PERIODS – Encyclopaedia Iranica". Archived from the original on 2018-12-25. Retrieved 2022-10-22. Afsharid and Zand court histories largely followed Safavid models in their structure and language, but departed from long-established historiographical conventions in small but meaningful ways.

[5] Axworthy, Michael (2008). A History of Iran: Empire of the Mind. New York: Basic Books. pp. 160, 167. ISBN 978-0-465-00888-9. OCLC 182779666.

[6] Aliasghar Shamim, Iran during the Qajar Reign, Tehran: Scientific Publications, 1992, p. 287

[7] Pickett, James (2016). "Nadir Shah's Peculiar Central Asian Legacy: Empire, Conversion Narratives, and the Rise of New Scholarly Dynasties". International Journal of Middle East Studies. 48 (3): 491–510. doi:10.1017/S0020743816000453. ISSN 0020-7438. JSTOR 43998158. S2CID 159600918.

[8] Tucker, Ernest (2012). "Afshārids". In Fleet, Kate; Krämer, Gudrun; Matringe, Denis; Nawas, John; Rowson, Everett (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE. Brill Online. ISSN 1873-9830. Archived from the original on 2022-08-09. Retrieved 2022-05-23. The Afshārids (r. 1149–1210/1736–96) were a Persian dynasty founded by Nādir Shāh Afshār, replacing the Ṣafavid dynasty.

[9] Lockhart, L., "Nadir Shah: A Critical Study Based Mainly upon Contemporary Sources", London: Luzac & Co., 1938, 21 :"Nadir Shah was from a Turkmen tribe and probably raised as a Shiʿa, though his views on religion were complex and often pragmatic"

[10] Mikaberidze, Alexander (2011). Conflict and Conquest in the Islamic World: A Historical Encyclopedia, Vol.1. ABC Clio, LLC. p. 408. ISBN 978-1-59884-336-1."This event marked the twilight of the Safavid power but also served as a launching pad for an Afshar Turkoman commander named Nadir Shah."

[11] Axworthy 2006, p. back cover. "Nader Shah, ruler of Persia from 1736 to 1747, embodied ruthless ambition, energy, military brilliance, cynicism and cruelty"

[12] Axworthy 2006, pp. 17–19. "His father was of lowly but respectable status, a herdsman of the Afshar tribe ... The Qereqlu Afshars to whom Nader's father belonged were a semi-nomadic Turcoman tribe settled in Khorasan] in north-eastern Iran ... The tribes of Khorasan were for the most part ethnically distinct from the Persian-speaking population, speaking Turkic or Kurdish languages. Nader's mother tongue was a dialect of the language group spoken by the Turkic tribes of Iran and Central Asia, and he would have quickly learned Persian, the language of high culture and the cities as he grew older. But the Turkic language was always his preferred everyday speech, unless he was dealing with someone who knew only Persian."

[13] Cambridge History of Iran Volume 7, pp. 2–4

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Afsharid Iran

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